Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri

Parental lineage

Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri's devotees state that his maternal lineage goes back to Abu Bakr Siddique, the first political successor of Islam, nad his paternal lineage to Ali, the fourth political successor (caliph) of Islam. His grandfather had settled first in Noakhali, Bangladesh and then in Rangpur.

Encounter with fakir

Just forty days after his birth, a Fakir came to their house in and told his father that he had come under orders from Mohiuddin Abdul Qader Jilani to take the child. His father felt some kind of hesitation, but his mother, immediately agreed to the proposal and handed over the new born baby to the Fakir. The Fakir returned him after a year or so.

Education

His mother was his first teacher and instrumental in his religious education. When he was eighteen, he came to Kolkata with his maternal uncle and Murshid Abdul Awal Siddiqui Jaunpuri and stayed at 7 Jannagar Road, Park Circus, Kolkata.

He was admitted to the Madrasah Alia, Kolkata and passed his Entrance and later F.A. examinations from this institution which was founded by the British in 1780. He went to Cairo for higher education, and studied tafsir and other Islamic studies at the University of Al-Azhar. He came back to Kolkata after two years. When he was 35, he made a voyage to California, U.S.A and studied homeopathy in Los Angeles.

Family life

When he was 20, he married one of his distant cousins, Syeda Shahnaz Begum who died in 1941 bearing one son and three daughters. None of his children were alive when he migrated to Bangladesh. In the mid-sixties he married Rabeya Khatun, an inhabitant of Ghoshpur of Howrah District, Kolkata. He built a small house in Mirpur Section 12, near Baitus Salam masjid. It was he who laid the foundation of this masjid. In his house, he set up a homeopathy medicine shop and started a practice, soon becoming well known in his neighborhood.

Since his second wife Rabeya Khatun was barren and he did not have any children by her, he married Aqia Begum, the daughter of Mohammad Shamsher Ali, of Genda, Savar in suburban Dhaka. He lived in this village for some time. He had one son and three daughters by his third wife.

He adopted Helena Begum in 1965, an orphan, whose parents died of hunger in dire poverty.

On 13 August 2001 he married Umme Kulthum Monowara Zerin, daughter of Sheikh Wajed Ali, who hailed from Howrah, Kolkata. They had no children and he died later in the year.

Spiritual quest

In his late teens Jaunpuri became a disciple of his maternal uncle Syed Abdul Awal Siddiqui Jaunpuri,a scholar of Islam and Sufism. He later studied with several other religious teachers, including Naim Ata Shah Bokhari, Syed Umar Uddin Multani, Syed Abu Nasr Madani, Syed Noor Mohammad Multani, Abdul Masjud Jabbalpuri, Shah Syed Sultan Ahmed Shahjahanpuri.

From 1996 onwards he performed Hajj with his disciples and admirers. In Medina they had their ancestral home in the south-west of the Haram Sharif. In late 80s he started to address the Friday congregation at Baitur Rahim mosque as preacher (khatib).

Travels and life in solitude

Jaunpuri traveled widely in North India. A book by one of his disciples states that he met 445 spiritual individuals over his travels. He lived for a while inside the Sundarbans forest, seeking solitude.

Death

On 2 September 2001 was hospitalized for a pain in his chest. His condition improved briefly before deteriorating again two days later.He was taken to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (Suhrawardy Hospital) where he died at 11 am on 5 September. According to his disciples, he was nearly 113 years old when he died.

Tomb

Jaunpuri was buried in a graveyard adjacent to the Baitur Rahim masjid in Dhaka. Later, the 120 feet (37 m) tall minaret of the mosque was built over his grave.

Works

Jaunpuri is the author of four books on topics such as Islam, Sufism, religion, and Islamic philosophy. M Harunur Rashid, who was a devotee of Jaunpuri, wrote a number of works based on his philosophy and vision.